Brazdeikis, facing several reporters a couple yards away from his teammate, returned a smile.

He may not be quite famous enough to deserve that moniker yet. Still, Friday’s performance — 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting — showed he’s off to a good start.

“I feel like I could do a lot better than that,” Brazdeikis said. “I made a few errors, couple offensive fouls that I could definitely take away from the game. But I felt like I did good out there. I felt smooth. I’m feeling more comfortable every single day.”

A couple days ago, the freshman learned he had earned the starting nod against Northwood. In doing so, he displaced sophomore forward Isaiah Livers, who started 22 games last season and was the incumbent entering this year.

Livers suffered an ankle injury during the preseason, and “was not able to practice a lot,” according to Michigan coach John Beilein. The Wolverines got into a rhythm with Brazdeikis in the starting lineup. They played him there in a scrimmage against Toledo. And they've kept him there.

This isn’t a Wally Pipp situation quite yet. Brazdeikis and Livers ended up playing the same amount — 20 minutes. Beilein left open the possibility of a switch in the regular-season opener by saying, “We’ll wait and see what happens Tuesday.”

Still, it’s notable that Beilein and Michigan went with the uber-confident freshman. And he took advantage.

“I was just super excited to get that opportunity,” Brazdeikis said. “I really worked hard all summer and all spring as well. I felt like I was really prepared for the moment and I just embrace every single second of it.”

Brazdeikis played to his reputation against Northwood. He’s 6-foot-7, 215 pounds and plays a physical brand of basketball. Against the Timberwolves, that led to a couple offensive fouls. But it also led to a lot of baskets in the paint.

“He was definitely aggressive and he’s making plays now that he wasn’t making when he got here,” said sophomore guard Jordan Poole. “He definitely did a good job tonight.”

Brazdeikis is a fit for Michigan, in more ways than one. He's a scorer on a team that needs to replace a lot of points. And although he's right-handed, he shoots with his left, which makes him well-suited to play the four in Michigan's scheme.

As Brazdeikis explained, the position is 'targeted toward more of a left-hander,' because it's on the right side of the floor and allows such a player to attack to their strong side.

“It’s huge that he’s left-handed, because in our offense, we got guys who usually run right," Poole said. "But being able to bring him in, we can run things to the left side for him, him being aggressive, him being able to get to the paint is something that’s huge for us.

"As the season goes on, he’s going to start making really great decisions and he’s going to pick up on things faster, but the way he played tonight, it was good.”

Either way, Brazdeikis is comfortable playing either the two or the four. He says he likes both positions equally. And the next step in his progression is applicable no matter where he is on the court.

“I think we had a foul call, he hit a 3, he can shoot the ball really well. I think we just gotta make them in games and become that real triple-threat player," Beilein said. "Because when he goes downhill, he’s ambidextrous, he’s going to finish with either hand.

"So the next step is to slow down, have the threat of a jumpshot — which he really has. He just hasn’t done it yet in any of these games anybody’s seen.”